philoh

Updated: May 2, 2025

Living! why, I have heard say that he blew a fife for he was a musical as well as a Christian professor a bold fife, to cheer the Guards and the brave Marines, as they marched with measured step, obeying an insane command, up Bunker's height, whilst the rifles of the sturdy Yankees were sending the leaden hail sharp and thick amidst the red-coated ranks; for Philoh had not always been a man of peace, nor an exhorter to turn the other cheek to the smiter, but had even arrived at the dignity of a halberd in his country's service before his six-foot form required rest, and the gray-haired veteran retired, after a long peregrination, to his native town, to enjoy ease and respectability on a pension of 'eighteenpence a day'; and well did his fellow-townsmen act, when, to increase that ease and respectability, and with a thoughtful regard for the dignity of the good church service, they made him clerk and precentor the man of the tall form and of the audible voice, which sounded loud and clear as his own Bunker fife.

George Henry Borrow - Lavengro; the Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest

Rector. Thou didst divide the sea, through thy power: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Philoh. Thou smotest the heads of Leviathan in pieces: and gavest him to be meat for the people in the wilderness. Rector. Thou broughtest out fountains, and waters out of the hard rocks: thou driedst up mighty waters. Philoh.

George Henry Borrow - Lavengro; the Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest

Living! why, I have heard say that he blew a fife for he was a musical as well as a Christian professor a bold fife, to cheer the Guards and the brave Marines as they marched with measured step, obeying an insane command, up Bunker's height, whilst the rifles of the sturdy Yankees were sending the leaden hail sharp and thick amidst the red-coated ranks; for Philoh had not always been a man of peace, nor an exhorter to turn the other cheek to the smiter, but had even arrived at the dignity of a halberd in his country's service before his six-foot form required rest, and the grey-haired veteran retired, after a long peregrination, to his native town, to enjoy ease and respectability on a pension of "eighteen-pence a day"; and well did his fellow-townsmen act when, to increase that ease and respectability, and with a thoughtful regard for the dignity of the good church service, they made him clerk and precentor the man of the tall form and of the audible voice, which sounded loud and clear as his own Bunker fife.

George Henry Borrow - Lavengro: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest

Rector. Thou didst divide the sea, through thy power: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Philoh. Thou smotest the heads of Leviathan in pieces: and gavest him to be meat for the people in the wilderness. Rector. Thou broughtest out fountains, and waters out of the hard rocks: thou driedst up mighty waters. Philoh.

George Henry Borrow - Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest

Rector. "Thou didst divide the sea, through Thy power: Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters." Philoh. "Thou smotest the heads of Leviathan in pieces: and gavest him to be meat for the people in the wilderness." Rector. "Thou broughtest out fountains and waters out of the hard rocks: Thou driedst up mighty waters." Philoh.

George Henry Borrow - Lavengro: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest

Living! why, I have heard say that he blew a fife—for he was a musical as well as a Christian professor—a bold fife, to cheer the Guards and the brave Marines, as they marched with measured step, obeying an insane command, up Bunker’s height, whilst the rifles of the sturdy Yankees were sending the leaden hail sharp and thick amidst the red-coated ranks; for Philoh had not always been a man of peace, nor an exhorter to turn the other cheek to the smiter, but had even arrived at the dignity of a halberd in his country’s service before his six-foot form required rest, and the grey-haired veteran retired, after a long peregrination, to his native town, to enjoy ease and respectability on a pension of ‘eighteenpence a day’; and well did his fellow-townsmen act, when, to increase that ease and respectability, and with a thoughtful regard for the dignity of the good church service, they made him clerk and precentor—the man of the tall form and of the audible voice, which sounded loud and clear as his own Bunker fife.

George Henry Borrow - Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest